Current
Astronomy "Headlines"

Full Moon
July 1, 31

Last Quarter July 8

New Moon
July 15

First Quarter
July 23

Listed
below are notable astronomical events coming up for the month of
July 2015:

Naked-Eye
Planets

Mercury
Mercury begins July just a week after greatest western elongation,
rising in the morning sky in the constellation Taurus. Mercury dips
toward the eastern horizon, diving into the glare of the Sun until
it reaches superior conjunction on the 23rd of the month. Thereafter,
Mercury crosses over into the evening sky, although even by month’s
end it will only be separated from the Sun’s disk by about
10 degrees.

Venus
Venus starts July just starting to break out of a close conjunction
with Jupiter low in the western sky in the constellation Leo at
about an hour after sunset. For the month, Venus pulls away from
Jupiter somewhat, but it, Jupiter, and the star Regulus of Leo remain
in some kind of a triangle shape all month long. Venus comes to
closest conjunction with Regulus on the 14th, is paired VERY closely
with the crescent Moon on the evening of the 18th, and afterwards
plunges surprisingly rapidly toward the western horizon nightly
through the end of the month. Venus will actually set at a hair
before 9 p.m. by the last day of July. This will probably be the
last month in which to see Venus in the evening sky for many months.

Mars
Mars is unfortunately effectively lost in the glare of the Sun for
the entirety of the month of July. The latter part of next month
will be better for early risers to try to view the Red Planet.

Jupiter
Jupiter starts July beginning the splitting of a very close pairing
with Venus that it had on the 30th of last month in Leo. As was
mentioned in the Venus section, Jupiter rapidly descends toward
the solar glare of sunset all month long, at first more quickly
than Venus, but then Venus seems to accelerate nightly and actually
set earlier than Jupiter by month’s end. Nevertheless, Jupiter
will be incredibly difficult to spot by month’s end, and will
probably be practically impossible to view with the naked eye even
at the beginning of next month. This will be the last month this
year to be able to easily view Jupiter in the evening sky.

Saturn
Unlike Venus and Jupiter, Saturn is riding high in the southeast
about an hour after sunset and will be visible for many hours in
the evening and early morning skies in July in the constellation
Libra, but very near the constellation Scorpius. Saturn is still
in retrograde for most of the month, and is bypassed by the waxing
gibbous Moon on the 25th of the month, then approaching the static
point in its retrograde loop by the end of July.

Telescopic
Planets

Uranus
Uranus rises in the morning before the Sun in the constellation
Pisces all month long, and at the end of the month rises a little
before 11:30 p.m.

Neptune
Neptune rises at about 11:45 p.m. at the beginning of July in the
constellation Aquarius, and finishes the month coming up at about
9:45 p.m.

Dwarf
Planets

CeresCeres rises a bit before
11:00 p.m. at the beginning of July in the constellation Capricornus.
By month’s end, it rises at a little after 8:45 p.m.

PlutoPluto is in the constellation
Sagittarius for the month of July, and comes to opposition on the
6th of the month, meaning it will be above the horizon all night
long! However, seeing it in a backyard telescope is another matter…!
The icy dwarf planet is only visible as a very modest, slight “dot”
of a star in a telescope of at least 8”-10” aperture.
A very detailed star chart (as well as a great amount of patience
and endurance!) is vitally necessary in order to spot it! Pluto
glows feebly at magnitude 14.0.